Barring any unforeseen circumstances, all is set for 2020 promotion exercise for men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF)

According to a budding online news platform, NewsOne the promotion which will be announced any moment from now will see the promotion of police officers whose names were omitted in the last promotion, in what can best be described as “justice for the affected officers.”

A police signal (Police Wireless Message) obtained from one of the southeast states by the online outfit, directed that the promotion should include the “names of rank and file enlisted/promoted on or before December 2016.”.

In what will be seen as espousing the culture of equity and fairness in the force, the police signal also ordered that officers whose names were not captured in the last promotion exercise and whose date of last promotion was 7/12/2015 should also include their names for proper documentation.

According to the police signal the names of the police officers selected for the promotion was to be submitted to the computer office on or before Monday, 24 February 2020 and “eye repeat” that same day in order to have a “detailed compilation and to avoid omission.”

The Police signal reads:

“PROMOTION GENERAL COMPOL directs as a matter of urgency, you forward to computer office, DFA, names of rank and file enlisted/promoted on or before December 2016 under the following heading: ‘S/NO, RANK, NAME, PRESENT DIVISION, DATE OF ENLISTMENT, DATE OF LAST PROMOTION’, pending disciplinary matters, remarks, falsification of date of promotion/ enlistment will be viewed seriously.

“Returns to reach computer office on or before 24/02/2020, eye repeat 24th February 2020.

“Also those omitted in the last promotion whose date of last promotion was 7/12/2015 should also include their names for proper documentation in hard and soft copies Microsoft excel.

“This is for detailed compilation and to avoid omission. Treat as very important please.”

LAST PROMOTION REEKS OF INJUSTICE

The fresh Nigeria police promotion will be coming after the last exercise was greeted with allegation of prejudice and unfairness as some officers of the force who felt shortchanged, sidelined and cheated in the last exercise expressed their dissatisfaction and discontent over what they said was promotion of less qualified candidates in the last promotion during the reign of former Inspector-General of Police.

It would be recalled that the Police Service Commission, last year, was at loggerheads with the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over the recruitment of 10,000 constables into the NPF, the imbroglio subsequently led to the suspension of all pending police promotions in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) until further notice.

In September 2019, TUC demanded that the PSC should withdraw all delegated powers extended to the IGP since it has been abused. The meeting in September 2019 rose with a Management decision to endorse the demand and stand of the Union that the Commission must seek judicial interpretation of its constitutional mandate for the appointment, which has been at the centre of the dispute.

The resolution of the union after meeting reads as thus, “The meeting rose with a management decision to endorse the demand and stand of the union that the commission must seek judicial interpretation of its constitutional mandate for the appointment which has been at the centre of the dispute.

“The management also agreed with the union that all police promotions will be suspended until further notice. The union had also demanded that the commission withdraw all delegated powers extended to the IG since they have been abused.”